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Thursday, November 10, 2011

Another One to Miss

Bil Keane, the creator of The Family Circus comic strip, died the other day.

Along with Andy Rooney, another one to miss.

Bil's son Jeff took over the strip a few years ago, but it's sad to think the creator is no longer there.

The best thing about The Family Circus is that it really was and is about his own family. Jeff said it reflected the reality of his life growing up, and is now reflecting his own family, too. It's touching, funny, and enduring.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Keane.

Today is:

Area Code Day -- US (began 60 years ago today)

Cry of Independence Day -- Panama

Day of Remembrance of Ataturk -- Turkey

Day of Russian Militsiya -- Russia

Dia de la Tradicion -- Argentina (birth of Jose Hernandez)

Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Beacon Lighting -- Split Rock Lighthouse, Two Harbors, MN, US (memorial for the Edmund Fitzgerald and all who have lost their lives in Great Lakes shipwrecks)

Forget-Me-Not Day -- internet generated, it's creator has been forgotten

Full Beaver Moon / Full Frosty Moon

Guinness World Records' Day -- celebrating ordinary people who do extraordinary things

Guru Nanak Dev Sahib's Birthday -- Sikh

Goddess of Reason's Day -- Revolutionary France

Hari Pahlawan -- Indonesia (Heroes' Day)

Loy Krathong -- Thailand (Floating of the Lamps festival; to appease the water spirits, dedicated to Mae Kongkha, Goddess of Rivers)

Rene Descartes has the dreams that inspire his Meditations on First Philosophy, 1619The Dutch formally cede New Netherlands to the English; it is renamed New York, 1674France ends forced worship of God, substitute the Goddess of Reason, 1793The US state of Kentucky outlaws dueling, 1801Stanley presumes that he has met Livingston in Ujiji, Central Africa, 1871The first Woman's Christian Temperance Union meeting is held in Boston, 1891The first Gideon Bible is put in a hotel room, 1908Hirohito ascends the throne as Emperor of Japan, 1928The Hope Diamond is donated to the Smithsonian Institution by New York diamond merchant Harry Winston, 1958The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board, 1975A 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals from Windsor, Ontario, Canada derails in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada just west of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, causing a massive explosion and the largest peacetime evacuation in Canadian history and one of the largest in North American history, 1979The communist regime of Bulgaria falls, 1989